Great pics! Looks like it was well worth the trip on Sore Ass Airlines (SAA). Congratulations on some fine looking specimens... You'll go back...or dream about it the rest of your life.



My son and I are leaving in 18 days for a 7 day PG hunt in the Northern Province for SG Kudu, Bushbuck, etc. Once we endure the AirBust, it should be a great experience!

Rick,

Congrats on your first trip to RSA!! Looks like you had a wonderful time.

-Bob F.





(I stole that quote from JDS' sig line. I hope he doesn't mind.)

Sounds like you had a great trip! I was at Mafigeni in Sept '03 and am still trying to lose the weight I packed on with all the wonderful food and the hunting was fabulous too.

Rick,

Congratulations on your safari. Thanks for the report.

Regards,

Terry

Congratulations, if you are like me you started planning your next trip on the long flight home!

Mike Starling, his wife Bonnie, and I got back from our first ever trip to Africa yesterday and now as the jet lag abates I'd like to say "Wow!".

I'll give my side of the story and Mike can chime in with his, they may be different as he was drinking Scotch while I prefer Tequila. We booked with Mafigeni Safaris of Duiwelskloof, RSA for a ten day plains game hunt and I think everyone was pleased with the outcome.

The trip to Jo'burg was LONG, the Airbus is uncomfortable and yes Virginia they were late coming in to the jetway, late loading and late taking off. All that lateness contributed to us missing our connecting flight to Hoedspruit and having to wait around five hours for the flight to Phalaborwa. Once there we were met by our PH Gary van Zyl who was just about everything you'd wish for in a hunting companion.

Getting through SAPS at Jo'berg wasn't bad at all. And yes the officer taking my info filed my 311 form in the round file. The outfitter had suggested a letter from my Sheriff stating that I was legally allowed to own my rifles and that seemed to impress the SAPS officer as much as anything. He checked my serial numbers off my rifles, looked to see how many boxes of ammo I had, gave me a permit and off I went.

I'll jump ahead to the end to add that they have apparently added a R114 fee per gun case to accept guns from Hoedspruit to Jo'berg as some kind of security fee. Once we got on it the flight back Atlanta was on time but SAA now stops on SAL Island to refuel and change crews on the trip back to Atlanta. The passengers can't disembark but the half hour or so that you could freely stand or move around the cabin seemed to help on the next eight hours. After Atlanta we took a small commuter plane back to Charleston WV and the seats on it were more comfy and spacious than the Airbus!

But hey! this is about being in Africa



And we were there to hunt.

Mafigeni has several areas available for hunters and when I asked to hunt Bushbuck they managed to round up one that was beautiful, except that the late rains had left the area too bushy for bushbuck hunting



We did see several ewes but no rams showed up to play. It was still a great experience with a lot of time spent poking around in the bush meeting new bugs and serpents.

All and all, Gary managed to get my corpulent rump within shooting range of a Blue Wildebeest,a Warthog and two Impala.

This is the blue wildebeest that I took with my Ruger #1 in .405 Winchester. One round just behind the shoulder and he piled up after going about forty yards in thick cover. The load used a .411" Woodleigh 400gr SP at about 2,050fps and it went all the way through, in fact neither Mike or I recovered a bullet from anything we shot.



Ever wonder what everyone else is doing during the hero shots? Here's our little crew watching me look heroic. L to R Mike, Bonnie, Ryan, Gary and Reckson.



This fellow waited till all the other piggies had come down to the water hole one evening. One 286gr Partition from the 9.3X62 and I'd brought home the bacon. He ran about fifty yards leaving a spray of blood 3' on either side of the trail, not hard for even me to track him.



Gary and I stalked this old boy while he was sulking away from the other impala. He was nursing a wound in his chest apparently from sparring with another ram for a lady's affections. He piled up about fifty yards from where I hit him with a Barnes 286gr X bullet from the 9.3x62, those things do a lot of damage!



On the last day of hunting I'd switched back to impala and took this fellow in a thicket of acacia trees and chest high grass using the 9.3x62 with partitions.

I found South Africa to have pleasant people and was welcomed like an old friend. The food was too good and the accomodations were just wonderful. We had a steady stream of characters coming to the lodge in the evenings and great conversation about hunting, guns, South Africa, America and what ever else came to mind.

I'll be going back some day, and maybe a buff or leopard is in the future. The only thing that scares me about Africa is riding that blessed Airbus again.